Originally delivered in 2017 as part of the hugely successful Amels Limited Editions designed by Tim Heywood, Here comes the Sun returned to Amels and Damen Yachting in 2020 for a radical and extensive refit under her new ownership. The works included a full respray, now featuring a Flag Blue hull and Oyster White superstructure, an extended sundeck, two additional VIP suites with exterior balconies and, most significantly, a 6-metre extension of the main deck. Her new length now sits at 89-metres and the completion of the exceptional refit project is a true feather in the cap of the Amels Refit team.
SuperYacht Times went aboard the yacht during the Monaco Yacht Show 2022 to document the refit on video in the company of Captain Colin Boyle, and Damen Yachting Refit Project Manager, Sander Peters. Here are some highlights of what they told us.
Colin, why did the new owner decide to refit Here Comes the Sun rather than build new?
CB: We’d been looking at everything available on the market for the previous six months and everything was with a view to refit. The owner had a very specific list of the facilities and visuals that he envisaged for the yacht and he was looking to achieve that in the shortest possible time. Here Comes the Sun was one of his prime choices and we managed to get it over the line.
CB: The refit was fast-tracked because of Covid and the lack of ability to travel. We’re known for mission creep in the yachting industry, but there are always new ideas to be played with or refit specs to be developed and I saw the pandemic as an opportunity to do a bit more. The whole family enjoyed the development of the boat and they spent this summer buying furniture, art, new toys and tenders. There’s almost no end to this mission; it’s a process, which is one of the most fantastic things about it.
SP: We knew the boat, of course, which made our job easier because we already had the drawing package, construction plans, piping and cable routing, and so on. A big part of the challenge was managing expectations, which makes it easier for the different parties to work with each other. Often with refits the work scope increases exponentially, because the owner changes his mind and other ideas come along. In this case we had a very experienced owner who was aware of all the implications, but even so there were almost 100 change orders. 
CB: It was daunting to see the yacht go so far backwards, to see chunks of metal coming off with scraggly-cut edges. I put the first cut in the boat with an angle grinder, which was ceremonial they said! So perhaps the biggest challenge was maintaining the vision to the end.
SP: The biggest reward for me is the final outcome. We’re very proud of how our flagship yacht turned out and personally I think the yacht looks much better now than she did before.
She now has a new Flag Blue hull colour. Colin, are you happy with the new paint job?
CB: Yes, extremely happy. We didn’t get to see the whole effect until the scaffolding came down and the yacht was out of the shed. Until then you’re looking at postage stamp-sized sections. It was another process the family enjoyed discussing and developing and they decided to overspill the Oyster White of the superstructure instead of having Flag Blue all the way up to the top of the foredeck, which would have meant we lost another visual layer of the yacht. 
CB: The old yacht had a deck-mounted pool as a Jacuzzi arrangement with a wet bar and stools inside it. The owner wanted a pool he could dive into with a swimming jet that the whole family could use at once, and that was flush with the deck to maintain the views. We also dropped the solid bulwarks at the sides and added a cap rail to bring more light into the aft deck and main salon.
And you have a new beach club arrangement underneath?
CB: The old layout included a sauna, steam room and a gym on one side, and a big oval bar near the aft entrance. Now we have a bigger bar against the forward bulkhead; opening platforms on both sides; a sauna, steam room and plunge pool on one side with access to the tender garage, and a massage and hairdressing saloon on the other side. 
CB: Originally, the upper deck aft had an outdoor galley, a small lounge and a much longer open deck. We had a need for two additional VIP cabins, so the galley and the lounge went, we reduced the length of the open deck and brought the superstructure aft to create more interior volume. We also added two ‘bubble’ balconies for the suites. They started at six metres long but finished up at just over 12 metres and were built entirely in situ.
And you also extended the sun deck?
SP: Yes, we brought the aft end of the sun deck in line with the decks below to create space for another touch-and-go helipad in addition to the one on the foredeck.
CB: We had to increase the payload forward to take a Bell 429 or an EC145 helicopter, and the same for the sun deck. The fire-fighting system was brought up from the engine room by running the pipes for the high-pressure foam through the support pillars, which was quite a feat of engineering. 
CB: I think refits are very viable with the current lack of inventory in the sales market and give owners a chance to put their stamp on a project in a relatively short period of time. When you start with a quality boat in the first place and go with a quality shipyard, as in our case, the results can be spectacular. We were compressing a time slot rather than a financial limit, but with realistic ideas of what changes can be made, a bit of a dream and proper funding, I would say give it a go.